How has your week been? Ours was great! As in wonderful! Stupendous! Incredibly spiritual! It was just great:) I love being a missionary!

On Tuesday, President Nelson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles came to talk to us. It was so great and the Spirit was so strong. I’ll honestly say that I don’t remember a lot of what he said, but I definitely remember how I felt, and it was just what I needed…it’s been an interesting week. Two of our sisters were given medical release and sent home…one because she’s has a rare heart disease and the other because she tore her ACL walking down a bridge in Baler (she was actually the missionary who replaced me when I transferred from Baler.) They were both our kabahay (housemates) when President Clark came and told them they would be going home. That was last Sunday and I’ll just say it’s been a roller coaster of a week. It was hard for me so I can only imagine how hard and heart-breaking it was for those two sisters. But I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us. I’ve felt that over and over again this week, and during President Nelson’s talk we all received the comfort and strength that comes from knowing the fullness of the gospel. The sisters left on Wednesday and I know that Heavenly Father has great things in store for them. Once a missionary, always a missionary:)

Lots of amazing things happened this week, but I’ll just share a few. The other day we OYMed (opened our mouth) to a jeepfull of nuns on the way to the appointment. They were so nice and it was so special to be able to share our testimonies to them. The Book of Mormon is full of commandments from the Lord to cry repentance and the gospel to all mankind…what a joy to be part of that! In fact we’ve been so excited with doing that that we keep missing our jeepney stops and having to backtrack because we’ve been so busy OYMing that we don’t watch where we’re going! It happened 4 times in one day haha!! It’s been the best :)

Also, remember what I said about focus areas and Paradise? Well we found her. She’s the one:) Sister Myrna is the mom of a recent convert, and she has a small tindahan. She’s about 58 and super super sweet. At first I thought she was just willing to talk with us because we were nice and friendly, but she’s kept every commitment we’ve given her, including reading and preparing for baptism. The very first lesson she said she would come to church when her daughter comes home for vacation (which would be several weeks), and while we encouraged her and invited her to come to church anyways, we didn’t push it very much. On the next lesson, she said she would come to church this week with her neighbors, who are very active in the church, and so of course we were excited, but then at the end of the lesson she said “Sisters, I’ll come to church, even if my neighbors don’t go.” And yesterday…she did go to church!! And she looked so wonderful and beautiful! She was glowing with the light of Christ and I’m so glad she came to church because it was stake conference and the spirit was so strong! She’s also so great because we taught about the Book of Mormon the other day, and as soon as we said “This is the Book of Mormon…” she jumped up and grabbed a dusty copy of the book from the corner and said “This was my son’s! Joseph Smith translated it right? I’ll read it!” She’s so great J And another cool thing, and one advice for missionaries in the Philippines, is it’s really really hard, and not really advisable to teach people in tindahans because usually during the lessons there are a million interruptions because people keep buying things like candy and rice and bread and more rice…but every time during our lesson with Myrna, we’re both just praying so hard in our hearts that the spirit will be there. It’s been the most incredible thing, because it gets so busy during the opening song and right before the opening prayer, but once the prayer is said, it’s completely quiet. As in no one comes and buys anything! I didn’t notice it at first, but then we talked about it as a companionship, and we realized just how amazing and loving Heavenly Father is. I know He knows where each one of His children are. I know that He knows when they’re prepared. I know Sister Myrna is the one. God is amazing.

I love you all and just always remember how much God loves you!!! This life is the best!!